We’re lucky to have two reviews from Oline Cogdill today. Cogdill is a correspondent for the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Both books she reviews, Happy Wife by Meredith Lavender and Kendall Shores, and The Felons’ Wife by Polly Stewart are available to order through the Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
‘Happy Wife’ by Meredith Lavender and Kendall Shores; Bantam; 320 pages; $30
Programs such as “Beyond the Gates,” “The Gilded Age,” “The Real Housewives” franchise and assorted others thrive because it’s satisfying to know that money and status don’t guarantee class, taste or good behavior — sometimes just the opposite.
And these scenarios can make for enjoyable tales, as Meredith Lavender and Kendall Shores show in their highly entertaining debut “Happy Wife.”
Set in the wealthy enclave of Winter Park, Florida, “Happy Wife” showcases its mansions, high-end restaurants and the small but superb Morse Museum, while giving bits of the history of this “city frozen in a shiny, glittery snow globe” that’s surrounded by Orlando. The authors guide their breezy story through the countless canals that small tours and kayakers enjoy and the awkward visits with the numerous rich women’s cliques.
Nora Somerset isn’t exactly a “Happy Wife,” but she does love her wealthy, older husband, Will, whose money and status as a successful lawyer have brought her into this rarefied group of Winter Park residents. The couple live in a “sprawling lakefront estate.” For the first time, the 28-year-old Nora doesn’t have to worry about money — her last job was as “an aimless swim instructor slash receptionist” at a country club where the couple met two years after his divorce. They care deeply about each other; their only arguments are over Will’s workaholic tendencies.
The problem is that the social circle’s members, especially the women, have no respect for Nora. They see her as “something between arm candy and dinner theatre,” treating Nora as “a strange interloper.” She is “the Ghost of Christmas Future, a harbinger of younger second wives yet to come.” Her only friend is her next-door neighbor, Este, whose new wealth and bluntness also have made her an outsider.
Then Will disappears after a lavish party that Nora throws for his 46th birthday. Naturally, Nora is suspected in his disappearance, especially when the lead detective seems unusually close to Will’s business partner and “in love with the lore” of Winter Park.
“Happy Wife” moves at a brisk pace, enhanced by the self-indulgent, gossipy characters — “status-obsessed social snipers.”
While the supporting characters are a shallow bunch, they also are unfailingly realistic, as anyone who’s seen a “Real Housewives” episode will recognize. Nora is especially a standout. The other women want to believe she’s a gold digger, but the authors shape her as a grounded, intelligent woman who appreciates her newfound wealth but is not blinded by money. Nora’s caring relationship with Will’s daughter, Mia, is thoughtfully explored. The teenager genuinely likes her stepmother but is constantly manipulated by her mother.
Lavender, a screenwriter and showrunner for “The Flight Attendant,” and Shores, a communications consultant, deliver a seamless story with “Happy Wife,” the first of a planned series of standalone mysteries set in Winter Park.
‘The Felons’ Ball’ by Polly Stewart; Harper; 240 pages; $30
Polly Stewart’s wickedly plotted second novel delves into family legacy, how adult children reconcile with their parents’ pasts, and how they forge their own futures while getting out from under their parents’ control. “The Felons’ Ball” combines both a tidy plot with a character-driven story.
It’s common knowledge around Ewald, Virginia, that the Macready family became powerful and wealthy from its moonshine enterprises. Going back at least a couple of generations, the Macreadys “bought” their liquor-making products from their own family farm supply store, then delivered the product to bars, restaurant and private buyers along the Southeast.
The business was still strong when Trey Macready and his best friend, Ben Marsh, took over. That was before the federal raids that started the end to the moonshine (though Trey maintains it was time to quit once he and his wife, Rosemary, had children).
Now the owners of a lucrative contracting business, the two friends like to fondly remember their history with the annual Felons’ Ball, which gives them a chance to boast about the old days, their skirting of the law and audacious adventures. They love telling stories about being wild teenagers instead of what they are now — “middle-aged businessmen, thinning on the top and soft around the middle … pretending to be bad guys one day out of the year.”
This year, the event is a double party as the Felons’ Ball falls on Trey’s 50th birthday. But the evening ends with Ben murdered on his boat.
The Macreadys are devastated about Ben, especially youngest daughter, Natalie, who has been having a clandestine affair with him. Natalie, who found Ben’s body, teams up with Ewald’s new sheriff, Hardy Underwood, to try to find Ben’s estranged son and figure out who might have killed him.
Natalie knows her family and Ben never really gave up moonshining — those canning jars full of amber liquid are a clue. But she never knew how far deep they were still into the illegal liquor business, or how dark and dangerous it was.
“The Felons’ Ball” also works as a coming-of-age tale for Natalie, whose family viewed her as too immature and weak to be considered the adult she is. She perpetuated this by relying on her family’s money for her car and housing and to establish her yoga studio. Now she has to grow up.
“The Felons’ Ball” is a well-choreographed, entertaining story.